A Miraculous First Week Back

This first week back to school has been downright euphoric, with friends reuniting after two months apart, new and returning students getting to know each other, groups collaborating in class, and teachers taking it all in with high hopes for the year to come.

It's been a terrific week in English 11. We've been sharing our summer reading experiences, with a special focus on the book that all students read, Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles.

It was named one of the best books of 2013 by sources such as Booklist and Kirkus Reviews, and with good reason -- it is a powerful, gripping read,  a coming-of-age story meets an end-of-the-world story. We've been discussing the book in class and have also been drawing examples from it as we review literary elements and terms such as theme, conflict, and symbolism.

What's So Great About Gatsby?

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"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

This quarter, the juniors have been reading The Great Gatsby. A few juniors weighed in on what makes this novel a classic:

I would definitely consider The Great Gatsby to be a piece of classic literature because its concepts and story transcend time. The specifics of the setting are very important because of the time of "New Money" and the rising culture of the 1920's; however, I believe that if the story were set in the current time period, most of the values and concepts throughout the novel would still ring true in our world today. Even though some of the characteristics of the era do help to define the feeling of different situations and the overall setting throughout the story, people in our age can still identify with the struggles within the novel.
-- Mara G. 

In modern times, we always hear stories about power struggles and affairs between celebrities, and we can see just how much money is valued in our society. The Great Gatsby allows us to peek into different eras and witness all these struggles in similar settings. It gives us a deeper understanding of one another as human beings. Through comparing the book's setting with modern times, we can see that humans are prone to follow similar patterns, no matter the current age. We are able to relate to one another and, for some of us, be able to learn from the mistakes in the past. We are able to have a glimpse into what is considered a mysterious world and have a better understanding of it because we are able to make many comparisons between the different times.
-- Hulali A.